Research of the Living Observatory

Our research covers a wide range of questions concerning how former cranberry farmlands respond to restoration actions. How quickly does wetland function return to soils? How does ground water discharge change following these actions? To capture data on the microclimates inherent in wetlands, some of our researchers use small, distributed, low-powered sensor devices to stream climate, soil, water and other environmental data on a number of spatial and temporal scales. This data is then archived and subjected to rigorous statistical analysis. For presentation to the general public, the data is used to populate a virtual landscape; users can move across the virtual expanse and time travel in order to explore how different areas of the site respond to the restoration actions and to changes in the climate.